OFFICIAL

Dear Chris,

Thank you for your FOI request received Friday, 25 February 2022 seeking
information and/or documentation relating to police station attendance/s
during the period 1 January 1914 to 1 January 1920 based on a person’s
ancestry or immigration history (see attached).

The National Archives of Australia (National Archives) is subject to the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) with respect to documents
relating to the administration of the National Archives.  FOI requests are
generally able to be made to the National Archives for access to
information in documents that concern its ordinary business activities and
are less than 20 years old.

However, there may be a possibility of the National Archives providing
access to the information you are seeking if it is in Commonwealth records
within the open access period as defined by the Archives Act 1983
(Archives Act) (i.e. are 20 years old or older) that are in the custody of
the National Archives or another agency and those records are not exempt
under the Archives Act.

As the information you are seeking is not in documents held by the
National Archives which relate to its administration, your FOI request has
been refused on the basis that it is not a request for ‘documents of an
agency’ within the meaning of the FOI Act.  A copy of the review rights
applying to this decision is attached.

However, as it appears that the records you are seeking fall within the
open access period under the Archives Act, the National Archives would be
able to consider your request as an application for access to records
under s 40 of the Archives Act.  You are able to seek this information
from conducting a RecordSearch enquiry on our webpage [1]www.naa.gov.au or
alternatively, please respond this email indicating that you want to make
an application under s 40 of the Archives Act and I will arrange it on
your behalf.

If you would like me to arrange your Archives Act request and to assist
our staff in locating all of the records you are seeking, please forward
any additional information which could further define the search
parameters.

Your Review Rights

If you are dissatisfied with my decision under the FOI Act, you may apply
for internal review or apply to the Australian Information Commissioner
for review of the decision.  We encourage you to seek internal review as a
first step as it may provide a more rapid resolution of your concerns.

Internal Review

Under s 54 of the FOI Act, you may apply in writing to the National
Archives for an internal review of my decision.  The internal review
application must be made within 30 days of the date of this email.

Where possible, please attach reasons why you believe review of the
decision is necessary.  The internal review will be carried out by another
officer within 30 days.

Information Commissioner review

Under s  54L of the FOI Act, you may apply to the Information Commissioner
to review my decision.  An application for review by the Australian
Information Commissioner must be made in writing within 60 days of the
date of this email, and be lodged in one of the following ways:

Online:
               [2]https://forms.business.gov.au/aba/oiac/f...

Email:                  [3][email address]

Post:                    GPO Box 299, Canberra ACT  2601

In person:           Level 3, 175 Pitt Street, Sydney

More information about Information Commissioner review is available on the
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner website.  Go to
[4]www.oaic.gov/freedom-of-information/foi-reviews.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Kim Kelo

Assistant Director, Integrity
Corporate Governance& Risk
[5]NAA National Archives t +61 2 6212 6209  m 0424 678 258 
of Australia logo e [email address]
Kings Avenue, Parkes ACT 2600
PO Box 4924 Kingston ACT 2604 | naa.gov.au

 We acknowledge and pay our respects to the traditional custodians of this
land and celebrate their ongoing culture and contribution to society.

OFFICIAL

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References

Visible links
1. http://www.naa.gov.au/
2. https://forms.business.gov.au/aba/oiac/f...
3. mailto:[email address]
4. http://www.oaic.gov/freedom-of-informati...

OFFICIAL
Dear Chris,

Thank you for your email, I have passed your request to our Reference team to action.

I am confident they will be in touch with you shortly.

Kind regards,

Kim Kelo
Assistant Director, Integrity
Corporate Governance& Risk

t +61 2 6212 6209 m 0424 678 258
e [email address]
Kings Avenue, Parkes ACT 2600
PO Box 4924 Kingston ACT 2604 | naa.gov.au
We acknowledge and pay our respects to the traditional custodians of this land and celebrate their ongoing culture and contribution to society.

OFFICIAL

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OFFICIAL

National Archives of Australia
National Reference Service

Reference: NAA1000337925

Dear Chris,

Thank you for your enquiry. Firstly, I would like to let you know that
Freedom of Information is possibly not applicable in this context, unless
the records relates to yourself or possibly a close relative. Rather, as
any relevant records are well and truly into the Open Period, you should
make this application under the Archives Act 1983, which allows for public
access to records 20 years or older, with a small number of exceptions.
You can learn more about these in section 33 of the Archives Act.

Moving on to your topic of research, it is highly unlikely that records of
the exact nature you describe have been retained, if they were ever made.
There are other possible avenue for this sort of question, however. For
instance, alien registration records may be of use, as these are often
arranged by country of origin, and aliens were required to report to the
local police station regularly.

In addition, as state policing is a state government matter, in many cases
their records are held by state and territory archives, rather than the
National Archives, which primarily holds Commonwealth Government records.

If you can provide more details about the individuals whose records are of
interest, as well as the specific nature of the information you are
searching for, we can search our collection in the hopes of finding
something relevant.

If I can be of any further assistance, please don't hesitate to ask.

Yours sincerely,

Frazer Brown

Reference Officer
National Reference Service

If you would like to provide feedback on the service you received in
relation to this reference inquiry, click on [1]comment on our service.

Click here to [2]ask a new question.

[3]History of correspondence in relation to this reference inquiry

Details of your reference inquiry:

Research topic: OFFICIAL

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